Adobe PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS Manual page 112

CHAPTER 5
104
Selecting
To use the marquee tools:
Select a marquee tool:
1
Rectangle marquee ( ) to make a rectangular
•
selection.
Elliptical marquee (
•
selection.
In the options bar, specify whether to create a
2
new selection ( ), add to a selection( ), subtract
from a selection ( ), or select an area intersected
by other selections ( ).
Specify a feathering setting in the options bar.
3
Turn anti-aliasing on or off for the elliptical
marquee. (See "Softening the edges of a selection"
on page 108.)
Choose a style in the options bar:
4
Normal to determine marquee proportions
•
by dragging.
Constrained Aspect Ratio to set a height-to-
•
width ratio. Enter values (decimal values are valid)
for the aspect ratio. For example, to draw a
marquee twice as wide as it is high, enter 2 for the
width and 1 for the height.
Fixed Size to specify set values for the marquee's
•
height and width in inches, centimeters, or pixels.
If you are using pixels, enter the pixel values in
whole numbers. Keep in mind that the number of
pixels needed to create a 1-inch selection depends
on the resolution of the image. (See "About image
size and resolution" on page 46.)
) to make an elliptical
5 To make a selection, drag over the area you want
to select. Hold down Shift as you drag to constrain
the marquee to a square or circle. To drag a
marquee from its center, hold down
Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) after you
begin dragging.
To reposition a selection border without
changing an image, first drag to create the
border, keeping the mouse button depressed.
Then hold down the spacebar and continue to drag.
If you have finished drawing the border, drag from
inside the selection to move it.
Using the lasso, polygonal lasso, and
magnetic lasso tools
The lasso and polygonal lasso tools let you draw
both straight-edged and freehand segments of a
selection border. With the magnetic lasso tool,
the border snaps to the edges of defined areas in
the image.
The magnetic lasso tool is especially useful for
quickly selecting objects with complex edges set
against high-contrast backgrounds.
To use the lasso tool:
1 Select the lasso tool ( ), and select options.
(See "Setting options for the lasso, polygonal lasso,
and magnetic lasso tools" on page 106.)
2 Drag to draw a freehand selection border.
3 To draw a straight-edged selection border,
hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS),
and click where segments should begin and end.
You can switch between drawing freehand and
straight-edged segments.